Teens favor Apple's iPhone over other smartphones, survey finds

A new survey says 48% of U.S. teens have an iPhone. (Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP/Getty…)

If you think you've seen a lot of teens with iPhones lately, that's because the popular Apple device may be owned by nearly half of all U.S. teens, according to a new survey.

Investment bank research firm PiperJaffray on Tuesday released its Taking Stock With Teens survey in which 48% of the teen respondents said they owned an iPhone. That's up from last fall's 40%. The report said the increase was driven by sales of iPhone 5, which hit stores last September.

Apple's smartphone was also the most preferred. According to the survey, 62% of teens planned on making the iPhone their next mobile device purchase. The results were compiled from classroom visits and electronic surveys and involved 5,200 teens.

About half of the teens surveyed said they owned a tablet but the percentage of those who had an Apple iPad slipped from 72% to 68% as more competitive tablets hit the market.

Another interesting tech tidbit from the survey: Although Facebook remains the most important social network to teens, other social networks are catching up. Last fall, 42% of the surveyed teens said Facebook was the most important, but that number fell to 33% in the latest survey.

Just behind Facebook was Twitter, with 30% saying it was the most important social network. That number is up from 27% last fall.

The social network with the biggest gains was Facebook's very own Instagram. Last fall, 12% of teens said Instagram was the most important social network, but in the latest survey 17% said they preferred the photo-sharing app.

The survey also tallied interest in headphones. About 46% of the teens surveyed said they plan on buying Beats by Dre headphones. Respondents preferred Apple headphones second, at 22%, and Skullcandy headphones third, at 11%.